BANFF

GUYS!

I've been back about a week, as you all know, so this is almost like... what's the point. But the thing is, I feel like the blog has been a big part of my experience, and it's important that I document the last part of it as well, especially because it was actually really cool.

In my last week, I went on a four day tour around the Rocky Mountains in Alberta. The tour left from Canada Place in Vancouver at 7 am (actually 7.30, since we ended up waiting for someone, but regardless it meant that I was up and moving at a VERY early hour. You should be impressed). We spent most of the first day busing. Most people slept, but I found the view outside completely entrancing and just watched that for most of the eight hours we spent on the bus that day.

We got to a place called Golden in the late afternoon and checked into our motel. It was awful. Let's skip that.

I went out to dinner at the local pub with our tour guides and a couple of cool Brazilians from the bus and then got an early night. Sleeping was not easy because I was sharing a room with three other girls (strangers, and significantly older than me) and also sharing a bed with one of them. I slept for like an hour and then they came in and were loud and turned on all the lights.

So after about four hours sleep, I guess, we woke up bright and early to get the most out of day two. We got to Lake Louise around midday and got to spend a couple of hours there, walking around the lake and ice skating for those who are more co-ordinated than I. Our tour guide was like 'are you sure? I really recommend it' and I was like 'yeah but if you knew me, you wouldn't'. The lake had an ice castle and a bunch of ice sculptures around it and it was really amazing. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me.

Amahzing ice castle

These are just some of them. There were many.

We then drove another 45 minutes into Banff, and settled into our second hotel, which was much nicer. Howevee when I collapsed on my bed and immediately opened my laptop, DISASTER STRUCK. Some of you know I was having blue-screening issues with that laptop shortly after buying it, and this time I opened it to see a massive black stain thing on the inside of the screen. I didn't drop it or drop anything on it, so I didn't and still don't understand how that could've happened. I was pretty gutted.

So I was then faced with the choice of staying in, catching up on some sleep and sulking about my broken laptop, or going out clubbing with everyone else. I did the latter, and - not going to lie - it was freaking awesome. You know how you always think clubbing is going to be amazing, and then it's always kind of lame? It was like that, except without the last part. It involved (moderate) drinking, dancing, The Beatles and hot Brazilian guys. This was another highlight of the trip. Fuck, if clubbing was like that every time, I might actually do it more than, like, twice a year.

So after meandering back to the hotel, I slept like a rock till ten the next morning (which was really nine, since Alberta is an hour behind BC) and then hopped back on the bus to make our way back to Lake Louise. We stopped off at Mount Seymour and went up on a gondola, seeing some incredible views and creating new phobias when the gondola stopped half way up and just rocked back and forth for five seat-clenching minutes. Apparently it's supposed to do that. Would've been nice to have a head's up.

LOOK at that.

From there we went to pick up all the people who had spent the morning skiing or snowboarding (again, not me. Same issues, plus expensive). We spent a little while shopping in the surrounding market and then settled into our motel. This one was nice, and also the first to have a locking bathroom, so I took advantage of that and had a nice long bath while the other girls in my room slept (they'd gotten back from the club some two hours after me). Later I voyaged out on my own to find somewhere to eat. The only open thing I could find was a petrol station, so dinner was an iceblock, a danish, and apple and a bag of candy covered sunflower seeds. It wasn't very good. Then I had to make my way back to thehotel, and pretty quickly got disasterously lost. The fact was everything was covered in huge amounts of snow, and this made it very very difficult to tell one street from another. Plus it was dark.

We're talking a LOT OF SNOW!

As this was the last night, we had a nice campfire together and then got some sleep before heading out at seven am (again, really six) the following morning. The last day again was pretty much all driving, and by this stage the windows were too filthy to really see out of, so I read and slept a lot. But we did stop off briefly to go snow tubing, which is like the best fun ever. I don't have a good photo of that but you can google it if you don't know what it is.

We got back to Vancouver around eight pm, and then I had to go immediately to try and return my laptop before the store closed. I was not successful. This is sort of a sore point with me. I'll elaborate tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'm planning to recap my last day in Vancouver and the emotional upheaval of coming back, as well as the feelings I have about it all now, a little while after returning to regular life. And then that's it for this blog! It's been a wonderful journey and I've loved reading all your comments along the way.
                                                  

Whistler/Victoria

Guys I'm really sorry it took me so long to write about this. I don't even have a decent excuse this time. I just didn't feel like writing. Also though my stupid new laptop wouldn't let me upload photos straight from the card, so I had to do it the long way. Anyway, here's what's been going on.

For my birthday (23rd here, 24th in NZ) I went to Whistler for a night. Whistler is a beautiful little village and ski resort a bit north of Vancouver. I had to catch a bus that took the best part of three hours to get there, but it was worth it. I fell asleep for a little bit of it, and then when I woke up, all of a sudden, snow!

This thing I saw in the mall on the way scared the crap out of me until I realised it wasn't a real person.

It was about five pm when I got there and I was exhausted straight away. Travel does that to you somehow. I never figured it out. Anyway I checked into my room, spent an unreasonable amount of time trying to log on to the wi-fi (the French girl in my room said the password had a 'double-v', meaning 'w', as I eventually figured out), and then pulled on a pretty dress and some make up before going out to meet my friends. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of myself all prettied up, but there is one glorious shot of the three of us on facebook, me with my eyes closed and mouth open. I love it.

So I got a bus down to the village and met up with Rob and my very good friend Eilidh. We went out to dinner (chicken ceaser salad - pricey but delicious) and then back to the UBC lodge, after a very precarious trek up a snowy ski hill (I was in flats, so yeah, not my choice. But I was already a little tipsy so they swung me round. I didn't fall.). The UBC lodge was fun and cosy and filled with old familiar faces and new friends. Everyone there was a post or present UBC student (obviously) and most of them were other exchange students as well. We ended up with quite an exotic group going out that night.

The second day in Whistler was spent collecting last last minute gifts in the Whistler village (EVERYTHING SO EXPENSIVE OMG) and generally enjoying the snow. It was my first time experiencing actual falling snow. I was a big fan for about a minute. Then it was just like soft rain and as I did not have a hat or a hood or umbrella, it got old fast. Similarly it turned out my impenetrable boots were not so weatherproof after all. I had to buy clean socks for the way back and my feet were still numb some four hours later. Nonetheless, FUN! Here is the first ever snowman I made with Rob.

I got back to Vancouver at about 7.30, just in time for Christmas eve dinner and to totally crash. Christmas was a quiet day, characterised by rain and failing internet, which after a couple of hours of pretending we didn't need it drove us all to the nearest Starbucks in search of wifi :P I also got some really lovely things from my family (here and back at home), including The Big Lebowski, an album by the glorious Mountain Goats, and like a lifetime's supply of body butter.

So a few days after Christmas, on the 30th, I set off with a few other people to go back to Victoria Island for take two. I'd been wanting to go back for quite a while and I'm really happy I got the chance to, since it is one of the most beautiful places I've encountered here. The people I went with this time were all from the UBC exchange students facebook page. We had two Aucklanders and two Germans, which was... interesting. We saw some of the things I'd never gotten round to the first time, like:

And we were there for New Year's eve, which was quiet, since none of us felt like braving the bars and it turned out there weren't going to be any fireworks out on the harbour. We went back to our youth hostel (WHICH, BTW, considered a 'double room' to mean one twin bed with about six inches of space on either side of it [and a leaking heater. Unrelated, but still worrisome, right?]) and shared some of our favorite youtube videos and got a relatively early night. Sort of. Actually I stayed up till about four am talking to the other girl from New Zealand, which made me pretty cranky at breakfast the next morning. We caught the ferry back at one, and after a long bus trip on either end and then the skytrain and then the seabus and then another bus (North van is faaar) I was finally home.

MOVING OUT/HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY TO ME

Well people, I have finally said goodbye to room 120-2 for good.

It was a sad occasion. I decided to stay till the last day to spend some extra time with my best friend on campus and to get the most I could out of my meal card. After shouting meals for a couple of friends and starbucks for my aunt and cousin, I still have about $12, but I'll go back sometime next semester and have lunch there. If I can't, well. $12 doesn't devastate me.

It was the right decsion for sure. I ended up having an exam on the 20th instead of the 19th, because of my basic inability to read forms. Turns out the disability service centre doesn't do seven pm exams, so they changed mine to 3.30, and the one before that to 11 instead of 12. I did not read the tiny bit at the very bottom of the form where this was written in very small font, and instead went with the times on the online exam schedule (which makes sense). But yeah, I turned up at 11.50 and got told the exam had started at 11. The exchange went a bit like this:

Check-in woman: Your exam started at eleven.
Me: No.
Check-in woman: ....
Me: No, you're wrong. It's definitely - it's definitely 12.
Check-in woman: Okay, let me just go check this.
Me: (quieter) You're wrong!

I go sit down, pull out my laptop and check my exam schedule. It does say 12, not that this changes very much. I show it to her and she's like well you can start it now and that's fine, but you have your next exam at 3.30. And I'm like 'NO! It's at seven!' So she told me I could take it at seven with the class if I wanted, but I would have no extra time, or I could take it with extra time but with only like 20 minutes between the exams (and I needed that time to cram). So I opted to take it with the class. Then they moved me to another room and had me stand around for a few minutes while they waited for someone to finish so I had somewhere to sit. I went to the bathroom and screamed into my palm for a bit. And then I did the exam and, let's be honest, probably aced it.

Long story short I went to the disability advisor to check there would be an exam for me if I went to take it with the class, and after very kindly and subtly telling me I was an idiot for not reading the form she called my professor and they decided between them I could take the exam the following day (tuesday instead of monday). I was very lucky. Especially since I REALLY needed that time to study.

I did my exam the following day, then came home, hung out for a while, met up with aforementioned friend Kaare, then thought I was going out to dinner with my friend but that fell through so I came home, did some packing, and then Kaare and I went down to Wreck Beach to star-gaze for a while.

I'm kind of gutted I didn't get any photos of this. My camera wasn't working in that little light. So I just lay back and concentrated on taking a million mental snapshots. It's one of my most beautiful memories from my whole time here, honestly, and the perfect thing to do with my last night.

Later I went back to Kaare's room for a while, played a board game called Devil Bunny Needs a Ham (that's a good time) and went home to finish my packing. I had a brief visit from another friend at 2 am, and then I stayed up for another three hours trying to condense 13 weeks worth of stuff I have accrued into one suitcase, two backpacks and a temporary storage box. There was a lot of overflow. And Melanie will be returning to her room to find a pile of books almost as tall as she is.

I got a bit choked up while packing, but not nearly as badly as I thought I would. It helped to know that I would be seeing my two best friends (in the country) two days later, and three more of my closest friends the day after that, and then it would be Christmas :)

So my aunt and uncle picked me up the following morning, and after saying goodbye to Kaare and a few other people at 12 I was off. Having gotten about four hours sleep maximum on tuesday night, I was pretty tired yesterday, and all I did when I got home was sort out my enrolment for next year. It took over two hours to do, and my schedule for next year is possibly the worst I've ever had. I have NO days off either semester, and in the first semester I have to get to school at nine for ONE class and then I have nothing for the rest of the day. Don't think there are any early starts in the second semester, but I do have a five hour break on mondays. What the fuck are you supposed to do with five hour breaks? I'm 2/3rds of the way through my degree and I still don't know. I just know you're not supposed to go see movies every week. Which is what's probably going to happen.

Anyway, after having my worst fear realised with the exam thing and then going through the emotional upheaval of moving away from my home of four-ish months, I lay down at 10.30 and slept for some ten hours.

I woke up twenty years old! Surprise!

Today is my birthday in New Zealand, so I'm technically 20, but it doesn't really feel like my birthday. I think I'm going to break into one of the presents my parents sent. I saw the massive package when I got here and was immediately doubtful of my ability to wait until sunday to unwrap them all. On opening the package, I saw that the tissue paper on one of the presents marked 'Claire' had ripped slightly, and there was something pink sticking out. I was like 'WHAT THE FUCK IS IT, I HAVE TO KNOW' and now I have a necklace. So... yeah. I'm probably going to open another one after I finish writing this.

So since I didn't get to do my shopping on the 20th (as I had to do my dumb exam) I have to do it today. I'm going out in a couple of hours to hit up the mall, and then tonight Kaare and Laura and I are going to see The Muppet Movie. Hopefully. It's a bit tricky to find a location that's good for all of us, but I'm optimistic.

Then tomorrow I will be busing for some three and a half hours to the winter wonderland that is Whistler, and hanging out with my other good friends Eihild (her name changes every time I try to spell it. It's pronounced Ailey) from Scotland and Rob from New Zealand and Patrick from Australia. We're a multi-cultural, attractive, charismatic bunch of people.

I spend one night in Whistler, and then I'll be on my way back here for Christmas eve. Busy week! But all of it really good. Even the last exam (on literature to the 18th century!) went pretty well. I only have one final grade back so far, for American Lit - a B+. I'm very happy with this - I knew that I had screwed up by loosing lots of little points on things like pop quizzes and participation, so I had to really work to get it up from that, and I managed it. I emailed my professor and he says I got an A- on my last essay (how it was STILL not an A after I spent three days on it I don't understand, but whatever) and an A on the exam. Good work, self.

SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN A WHILE GUYS.

I have been waiting until I had some free time and was also in a fairly good mood, since I feel like my last couple of entries were particularly whiny. Sorry about that guys. I still love Canada. Promise.

The last three weeks have also been incredibly hectic. First I had the last week of classes, which included three 1500 word essays and frantically trying to catch up on my reading so that I wouldn't have to still be finishing it when I was supposed to be studying for my exams. That didn't work out so well. But I managed to finish the essays to an acceptable standard and get them in on time, so I was pretty proud of myself.

The weekend after that was more or less a non-event. I slept a lot. I went out with some friends. I finished one of the aforementioned books. There is still quite some reading to be done.

But I have now finished my two hardest exams, and I'm in such a great mood! My first exam was American Literature, last friday - it was tough, but I thought I did okay. My professor is a genius and a huge troll. Either that or he just genuinely doesn't realise that most of us don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of all nine texts on our course after our first readings. So his exam was pretty intense, and involved three hours of more or less straight writing, but I finished it and did not die. Today I had Canadian History at 8.30 in the morning after five days of studying with my friend. I honestly had almost given up on that one last night when I was still reading through my flashcards and blanking on things. The course was like a blur. But unlike Mr American Lit this professor was very, very gentle with us and basically all the essay questions were things like 'describe things about the economy in the 19th century'. So given the circumstances the essay was necessarily going to involve some level of bluffing, but I actually knew most of what I was writing about, and that exam could have been a lot, lot worse.

After the exam I was sort of exhausted, having gotten up at 6.45, so I sat in the library and read for a while. Then one of my best friends came to meet me, and we talked for a while, and then another of my best friends happened upon us and the two of them got to meet for the first time, which was excellent, and then a while later I went to hang out with another of my very good friends and talk about the exam and get some delicious Mexican food. Later we stopped by the Salvation Army and I found some excellent shoes and then I came home to find out I got an A- on one of the shocking essays I handed in last week, which I'd been really worried about, and this is fantastic news because it means I've already passed Canadian History and I don't have to worry about it any more :) Now I just have to finish Northanger Abbey and madly revise all my English notes for my two exams on Monday, and then I'll finally be done for the year.

I had to say goodbye to someone for the first time a couple of days ago, and it was tough. This person was not a BEST friend, but a good friend, and since he's going back to Japan now and we have no real plans to be in the same place in the foreseeable future, it was a somewhat permanent kind of goodbye. My first of that kind. It made me very sad and it made it hard to study that night. This really worries me because I just know when Melanie leaves in a couple of days I'm going to be really gutted, even though I'll only have a couple of days here without her, and then before long I'll be saying goodbye to everyone and it will just break my heart. But what can you do? This is why there is skype I suppose.

In the meantime I am doing my best to stay cheerful and enjoy my last few days here, even with the on-going hot water issues (on the bright side I just got issued a cheque for $220 in compensation - couldn't have come at a better time, that's my christmas budget pretty much) and the fact that honestly, I'm a bit sick of this room now. I try to do all my studying in communal spaces and libraries, because being alone in my room just makes me depressed and unproductive. I end up on facebook a lot.

Almost done with the semester, and before long I will being seeing all of you again!

The Hostility Phase

Bad news guys. The honeymoon is officially over.

I was looking at the culture shock graph that they showed us during orientation the other night, and I realised that actually the first stage of adjustment lasts a lot longer than I thought. I was under the impression that the period of constant happiness and ecstacy only lasts six weeks or so for most people, and then the homesickness sets in. That seemed to be happening to most of my friends. But actually, in a six month period, the first two and a bit are supposed to be spent in this stage, and then the 'hostility' stage begins, then there's the bit where you come gradually out of hostility and start finding everything funny again and then you go back to being really happy about everything.

So according to that I've got another two weeks or so of feeling a bit rubbishy. I know what you're thinking, and yes, obviously I'm still enjoying myself most of the time and the campus is great and the people are amazing and blah blah blah. To be honest, it's less the country than the immediate groups of people I find myself associating with. As much as I like them on the whole, I've been in some situations lately where I've felt myself really wanting a friend I can have a deep and personal conversation with, and the people I can comfortably do that with (without first consuming copious amounts of alcohol) seem few and far between. Now that I'm in the fourth month of knowing most of these people, and hanging out with them on a regular basis, it's gotten to the stage where I want to take the friendships to the Next Level. Where heartfelt confessions are made. But this takes work.

And lately I'm feeling very lazy. I seriously sat at my computer feeling hungry for an hour tonight before I could be bothered to go and buy a slice of pizza and some apples from the dining hall. I just sat here listening to my stomach rumble and thinking 'But it's so far away and no one's answering my teeeeeeeeeeexts'. It was pathetic. Other symptoms of the hostility phase, as far as I can figure out, include a renewed appreciation for sleep and general irritation. For example, why is it that the little convenience store by the dining hall doesn't sell any good cereals. I'll tell you why. It's because they want me spending two dollars every morning on a bowl of it in the dining hall. WELL GUESS WHAT, TOTEM PARK. I CAN EAT ANYTHING IF IT'S COVERED IN ENOUGH CHOCOLATE MILK. Actually, that probably only applies to cereal. But yeah, now that I've paid for it, my box of 'Original Alpen Weetabix' is not going to waste.

I'm also sick of barely lukewarm showers. The administration actually sent us an email about this earlier in the week (after a weekend of only cold water, during which I was thankfully absent), basically saying that the system operates in such a way that when the hot water doesn't run, there's a brief supply of lukewarm water, and then cold water. Thanks for that bro. They say it's difficult to determine why the system is turning itself off. On the bright side though, they're almost done replacing the light above the noticeboard which no one reads (since according to the workman the old one 'wasn't bright enough'). Good to know the really important stuff is still getting done.

On the bright side, this is a long weekend, and I have some social activities planned which hopefully will involve me making significant steps in turning a couple more of my friends into best friends, and maybe meeting some more people too. I could use some new guy friends. I only have a couple who I see with any regularity outside of classes.

I'm also buying a new laptop this weekend, since this one is currently making more noise than the construction used to and freezing approximately every seven seconds. I'm thinking about a mac, though I'm not sold on the idea. Pros: it's supposed to be a really good machine and you never hear anyone complaining about their mac acting up. Cons: they're elitist and expensive.

So yeah. Leave your computer recommendations in the comments.

HALLOWEEN

T-Ugh. Let me just start this off by saying all the photos I've just seen on facebook of what you guys got up to this weekend have made me even more homesick! I miss you all so much :( I really wish I could just like .... be home. For two days. Without having to fly thirteen hours or pack or anything.

As it is I made the spontaneous decision to bus back to my aunt and uncle in North Van for two nights. I got sick of campus life this week. It's still beautiful and I still love it and everything, but certain things just start to wear on you after a while. Like having to leave twenty minutes earlier when you want to print something off before class, and then having even that not be enough because some bitch in front of you is printing her thesis or something and the printer has to take a ten second breather between each page. And all the drinking. I haven't been feeling so well physically, and while I get back into the s wing of things it's better for me not to be drinking, and it's easier for me to do that when I'm not on campus. So that's this weekend for you. Here are some photos of what I got up to on Halloween.

Pumpkin carving.

It's a kiwi. It's a really good kiwi.

It's still in my room. I'm really impressed with how well it came out. I don't have a photo of it lit up for some reason though, sorry about that.

So that was Sunday. Monday I went to Fright Nights with Melanie and my good friend Kaare. Here's a photo of him getting a tarrot card reading, which apparently made the pseudo-psychic really mad. Well what am I going to do? Not take a photo? I don't think so.

Here's a ride. I don't know any of these people.

So that was halloween. So far this weekend I've returned my library books and gotten my hair cut. It's like shoulder-length now. It's pretty weird. It always works out shorter than you think it's going to. But it tends to grow back so I think we're okay. I also bought two of the prettiest dresses I've ever owned last night. Damn, Vancouver, you so cheap.

I'll probably update again soon - I'm going to try to get back to the Biodiversity museum this week, which I have so far been halfway through. I'm also going to take some photos of the campus with all its pretty leaves and stuff. I know I keep saying that. I WILL I SWEAR.

LEAVE ME COMMENTS! All of you!

GOING TO UPDATE THIS NOW WHILE I HAVE A SPARE MOMENT.

Hi guys!

I'm tired and overwhelmed :( And my hair is getting out of control. On the bright side, I'm going to Granville Island tomorrow and it's going to be totally wonderful amazing. I'll try to put up some photos tomorrow night.

In the meantime, a brief update on what has been going on, and some photos.

Two weeks ago was Thanksgiving. My building put on a turkey dinner, which was nice, but I forgot to take photos of it. Sorry. We had turkey (for the first time. Tastes like weird chicken), stuffing, some sort of cranberry stuff and vegetables. To be honest, it was quite average. I wasn't that impressed. But the company was good. I met a couple of new people from my building and talked to them for a while and it was nice. Unfortunately, I was also pretty sick - I caught a cold, and didn't manage to kill it within the crucial two day period (if you let it go 48 hours it has you). So I was drinking bucketloads of herbal tea in an attempt to fight that off. I was also struggling under a massive load of reading, which is still the case.
So that was Sunday night. We got monday off, and I left in the morning to bus back to North Van and see my family. That was a riot. Even on thanksgiving, the 99 bus is still ridiculously full, and I was fucked if I was giving up my seat while I had a massive backpack and I was trying to drink tea out of a thermos, so I crammed myself into one of the back corners where I knew I'd never have to give up my seat and ended up sitting next to this guy whose backpack was making weird noises the whole way. Then I got off the bus and onto the train and a deranged old woman called me a bitch when she got up to leave and I went to take her seat. Apparently she was saving it for the random Asian couple who were also standing and were totally mortified by the situation :P I was embarrassed, but only for a second. Because the fact is while we're all young and able-bodied, those seats are fair-game as far as I'm concerned. And they got off at the next stop anyway.

From the train I have to get on the seabus, which always has some interesting characters. I spotted a man who looked like Christopher Walken with a woman who looked a bit like Tom Augustine's mother, for those of you who know her. Then I got off the seabus and onto the regular road bus, which unfortunately stopped halfway up the street (WHY, LANDBUS?) so I got my uncle to pick me up and take me the rest of the way. So yeah. Lots of time in transit. I was pretty exhausted. I went to bed at ten that night and slept through till about nine the next morning. I've really fucked up my sleep schedule lately. I just can't seem to get through everything I need to do. My goal for next week is to be in bed every night by 12.

So after half a day of hanging out with my cousins, eating cheesecake and pasta (better than the actual turkey dinner) and hugging their cat, I was back on the bus home. A guy fell asleep on my shoulder.

That was Thanksgiving. The following weekend, last weekend, I went to Victoria Island, which was brilliant. My aunt and uncle took me and since it was

basically a free trip for them we took Melanie with us, and we got to spend the whole time hanging out and catching up on sleep (we both nodded off for a bit on the ferry) and shopping and sightseeing. I would definitely go back there if I get time, because I feel like there was a lot still to see. Here's some of the stuff we got up to.

Melanie by some little houses on the water

Miniature world!

I loved that shit.

Stumbled upon an Occupy Wallstreet-esque rally

This is a musical instrument that you play by running up and down the stairs. We didn't get to try, unfortunately, but on the seocnd day we heard someone else doing it. It was awesome. Sounds like an organ. I can't image what it would be like inside.

Museum! Here we have the 'People Used to Wear That?' section, where I like to think jeggings will someday be laid to rest.

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Anyone else feel really weird about seeing artifacts from their childhood in the museum? Some of this stuff must still be popular right? I mean I can't be the only one who still has a pokemon display in my bedroom. It's awesome btw.

On our way back to the ferry we stopped off at the Butterfly Gardens, which were really lovely. Here are some badass butterflies and stuff.

On the way back my uncle pointed out some of the other islands. They exist in varying states of civilisation and urbanisation. I plan on visiting some more of them after semester.

Long blog post is long. That's not even all I had to tell you guys. A couple days ago I visited the Biodiversity Museum on campus, and that involved a giant whale skeleton. More on that later.

PEACE